Game Plan
by Rookblonkorules
Summary: Dick gathers his brothers together for a day of video games and hot chocolate. In which Tim is quietly amused, Jason is fed up, Damian is looking to kill someone and Dick just wants things to go as planned. But since when has that ever been an option?


**A/N:** So... I'm not really sure what this is... I had the idea lurking in the back of my mind for about half a year. I finally decided to write it out and, well, I'm not sure how I feel about the results, but if anyone enjoys it, I'll consider that a success. :)

There's more of Damian and Dick and less of Jason and Tim than I had originally hoped. Whoops.

* * *

"Dick!"

"Gah!" Dick starts, spilling some of the mini marshmallows over the rim of the fourth and final cup of hot chocolate.

He glances up at his irate brother.

"Jason," he says cautiously.

He's only been gone fifteen minutes. Have things already become that bad?  
(Though in hindsight, he should have known better than to leave Tim and Damian alone in a room when they were being moderated only by Jason… but he'd thought things were getting better!)

"Tell _your_ brother to stop murdering my brother!"

"They're both of our brothers, Jay," Dick says, not without some anxiety.

( _Murdering?!)_

A crash and a shout from the other room interrupt any thought process he might have and he drops the bag, hurrying after Jason.

The sight that greets him is at once enough to render him speechless (and that's saying something) and somehow not surprising at all.

They had playing video games when Dick left them.

They're still playing video games.

Or Tim is.

 _Trying_ to anyways.

Damian seems to be interfering in that regards.

The cord from Damian's controller has managed to wrap itself around Tim's throat with a concerning deliberateness.

Tim's free hand is up over his head, trying to shove the younger boy away from him, even as he still maneuvers his cart around the track.

"Grayson!" By now, Damian has noticed Dick and angrily shouts for his attention. "I demand you do something! This… this _ingrate_ is _cheating!"_

"I'm not!" Tim defends himself. At least Tim can still breathe, despite the cord, if he's still talking. And playing. Dick takes that to mean Damian's homicidal tendencies towards the middle brother must be dying off.

Hello, progress!

"You just don't like not winning!"  
"You didn't stop this?" Dick turns to Jason, appalled. "Why didn't you stop this?"

Jason crosses his arms, glaring at him defensively. "You're the one who insisted on having game night," he counters. "And as the oldest here, you take responsibility for all mishaps that occur."  
"What?" Dick gapes at him.

Jason shrugs. "Sorry." He's not sorry. In fact, he's smirking.

" _Grayson!"_ Damian's screech cuts him off before he can speak. " _Do_ something!"

"Yeah, Dick," Tim calls. "Get him off me."  
Shooting a glare at Jason, but leaving any lecture on brotherly responsibilities as the oldest one _present_ ("In the other room still counts as present, Dickiebird.") alone for now, Dick steps in to intervene.

"Dami, what…?" Dick begins.

"He was cheating!" Damian says, glaring daggers, as if that explains everything.

"You can't even cheat at Mario Kart!" Tim protests.

"Okay, okay, wait!" Dick decides it's time for him to step in now, and so he does, holding up his hands like a referee. "For starters, Damian get off of Tim. Then we can work this all out."

The ten year old looks very much like he wants to tell Dick just where he can stuff his solutions, but then he, very reluctantly, slides off the older boy's shoulder and lands on the couch with a _poomph._

Tim immediately unwinds the cord and tosses the controller onto the couch next to him. Before he can spout off something bitter that might get Damian riled again (although Tim should, and usually does, know better), Dick speaks up again. "Okay, then." Great. They'd made it past the first step in one piece. Now he just needs to figure out what started this whole mess and somehow he knows he can't quite count on Jason for that information. "Damian, why did you think Tim was cheating?"

"I wasn't…" Tim begins again before Dick silences him with a look.

"I didn't _think_ he was cheating!" Damian declares, offended. "I _know_ he was! And do not treat me like a child, Grayson."

Tim gapes at him, but at least this time, he has the sense to hang back and let Dick handle the interrogation.

"Okay." Dick resists the urge to roll his eyes. "How did you _know_ he was cheating?"

"He was _winning!"_

Now it's Dick's turn to gape. "He was what?" he asks, stupidly. He heard very well what Damian just said.

He's just having trouble processing it.

Damian crosses his arms. "Don't play dumb with me, Grayson. He was winning. Of _course_ he was cheating!"

Dick sighs heavily. "Damian, you don't just…" He's almost at a loss for words. "You don't just _attack_ and try to strangle someone because they were beating you."  
"I didn't expect you to be so dense, Grayson," Damian explains simply. At least his temper seems to have gone down. Dick's gonna count that as victory number one. "I already told you he was cheating."

"Tim beating you doesn't mean he was cheating," Dick tries patiently.

Damian scowls, unconvinced and haughty. "I am an Al Ghul. Al Ghuls do _not_ lose."

"Well, you're a Wayne now, Dami," Dick says, trying to make light of it.

Damian stares at him. "Your point?"

From behind Dick, Jason finally speaks up, "You know, he _does_ have a point."

Dick ignores him. For the time being.

Still, he decides it might be time to move on from Damian. He turns to Tim. "What happened?"  
"I just told you!" Damian splutters, indignant.

Dick suddenly has the urge to bring his palm to his face.

"Okay, no killing," Jason says suddenly. "Hear that, demon spawn?"  
Damian makes a face at him, holding his chin a little higher. "Do not presume to lecture me, Todd."

"Whatever." Dick can almost hear the eyeroll that goes with it.

"Tim?" He looks at his other brother expectantly.

In the background, he hears the sound of Jason leaving the room, but doesn't pay any attention to it beyond that.

"You want to tell me what happened?"  
Tim breaks out into a sheepish grin. "Er, okay, I might have ribbed him a bit about it. I didn't think it was enough to warrant," he flaps his hand, then makes a choking gesture at his throat, "you know, this, but…" He looks at Damian, who scowls.

Dick bites back a groan. "Tim…"  
Tim should have known better than that. Making fun of Damian was like asking to have your head bitten off.

But at least he knew what set the whole thing off.

Dick sits down in the chair and stares at his two brothers.

"I was gone for fifteen minutes," he says.

Damian gives him a slightly disinterested look. "And?"  
"Fifteen minutes and you guys couldn't refrain from trying to kill each other?"

He almost has to hide a grin.

Damian looks away. "He started it," he mutters sullenly.

For a moment, silence reigns before Tim, fidgeting on the couch, cuts in with, "So… can we finish our game or what?"

Dick looks at both brothers.

"I though Damian was angry because you were winning?"  
Damian stands a little straighter. "That was a fluke. I shall defeat him easily this time."

Under his breath, Tim mutters, "We'll see about that."

Dick is just glad Damian doesn't seem inclined to make another try at attempted murder.

And then he remembers…

… the hot chocolate…

... _Jason!_

He bolts off the chair without a word to either Tim nor Damian, making a dash for the kitchen.

Dick's not sure if Jason will attempt to make off with any of them, but those were fifteen minutes well spent.

He's not going to lose any of them.

"Hey! Watch it!"

Dick nearly collides with Jason, who's on his way out of the kitchen, somehow managing to juggle all four mugs in his arms.

Jason just barely manages to dodge out of the way, but even so, some of the liquid sloshes out and onto his sleeve.

"Geez! He try to kill you too?" Jason shoots him a glare, protectively clutching the mugs closer to his chest.

"I…" Dick stares at him a moment, speechless, then hurriedly snatches two of the mugs. "Give me those. We don't need you dropping them on your way out."

"I was doing _fine,_ " Jason snarks. "Until _you_ nearly freight trained me over on your way in here! And did you seriously leave them unattended again?"  
"Relax. They'll be good." Dick sneaks a sip out of one of the mugs.

It's smooth, rich and creamy.

Delicious.

Yes, he's very proud of these.

"And _freight trained_ isn't a real term, Jay," he adds.

"Sue me," Jason retorts. Then he looks down at the hot chocolate. "Hey, think they would notice if we just… didn't bring these out and hid out somewhere?"  
Dick laughs. "Yeah, I think they would. Sorry to disappoint."

* * *

 **A/N:** So... I don't know if it was obvious, but humor is _not_ my strong point in writing. Also, this is my first time writing Damian _and_ my first time writing all four boys together. I'm not sure how it turned out, lol.


End file.
